160 THE WRYNECK. 



61. THE WRYNECK. 

 J'unx Torquilla, LIN. Torcal, BUF. Der Gemeiner Wendehals, BECH. 



Description. This bird is about the size of a Lark, being 

 six inches and a half in length, of which the tail measures 

 three inches and a quarter. The beak is one third of an inch 

 long, large, straight, pointed, lead-coloured in summer, and 

 in autumn olive green. The iris is brownish yellow ; the feet 

 are short, strong, and lead-coloured, having two claws in front, 

 and two behind. The head is ash-coloured, with small spots 

 of black, rust-colour and white. A broad black stripe, mot- 

 tled with rust-colour, runs from the top of the head half-way 

 down the back. The rest of the upper part of the body is a 

 fine grey, striped and spotted with black, white, and rust- 

 colour ; a chestnut-browTL stripe runs from the hinder corner of 

 the eye half-way down the neck ; while the cheeks, throat, 

 neck, half the breast and vent, are reddish yellow, covered 

 with fine black wavy lines. The lower part of the breast 

 and the belly are yellowish white, with a few three-cornered 

 blackish brown spots. The wing coverts and the hindmost 

 pen feathers are brown, finely striped with grey and black, 

 and covered with black and white spots. The other pen 

 feathers are black, mottled with rust-colour on the outer 

 plume. The tail, which consists of ten larger, and two smaller 

 feathers, is pale grey, spotted with black, aud crossed by four 

 broad black stripes. 



The female is paler on the belly than the male. 



Habitat. The Wryneck is a bird of passage ; leaving us 

 in the first half of September, and returning about the end 

 of April. It frequents groves and gardens, and in August 

 may be particularly noticed in cabbage fields. In some years 

 they are as common in Thuringia as Linnets, though not, like 

 that bird, gregarious. 



In confinement this bird does not thrive in a small cage, 

 as it is apt to soil the feathers of the breast and belly by its 

 pecular motions. It is advisable, therefore, either to put it 

 in a large cage, or allow it to range the room at will. 



Food. It chiefly feeds, in a wild state, on insects and their 

 larvaB, which it catches by inserting its long and sharp pointed 

 tongue into the crevices where these are to be found. Ants' 



